Scientists Develop Drought-resistant Yerba Mate in Argentina

The Laboratory of Applied Biotechnology and Functional Genomics of the College of Agrarian Sciences of the National University of the Northeast of Argentina has done a study to identify the molecular changes that occur when a Yerba Mate (Ilex paraguariensis) plant manifests itself under water stress.

 

In Argentina, the Yerba Mate is a plant that grows naturally near the rivers Paraná and Paraguay in the “sub-forests,” where they are found close to the soil and under the tall trees. The plant requires low solar radiation and high moisture for its growth.
 

This habitat change, along with the climate modifications that generate less rain in this region, motivates the need for the improvement of the species to adapt to the new environment that it is cultivated. This results in heterogeneity and the aging of herbs with the introduction of new cultivars that are tolerant.
 

The results of the project were announced at a symposium on “Physiology of Regional Species” at the Argentinian meeting of Vegetal Physiology held in the University. The meeting was headed by Raúl Maximiliano Acevedo, an expert on Molecular Biology and Biotechnology.
 

"There is lack of genetic information on Yerba Mate, and the goal of our work is to study the defense mechanisms of Yerba Mate to face the water stress to produce tolerant cultivars,” Acevedo explained.
 

He detailed that the plant was exposed to the different conditions of water stress such as slight, moderate and severe water deficit, followed by irrigation after a deficit situation. He commented that these experiments intended to observe “the mechanisms that allow the plants to adapt to the stress and the result of these procedures to yield variables.”

 

Preliminary results demonstrated that under these circumstances, activation and inhibition of some fragments of genes involved in process of photosynthesis, respiration, metabolism and crop protection were observed.

 

"It is just the tip of the iceberg,” he expressed, regarding the preliminary observations of the study that could be the starting point for other genetic improvements of Yerba Mate compared to other crops.

 

Acevedo highlighted the development of drought-tolerant cultivars that currently represent one of the main priorities of the Yerba Mate improvement programs. “Yerba Mate not only provides an economic value through the caffeine that it produces but also a major value of sociability that generates its consumption,” he signaled.